How to save by using Avios for airberlin long-haul – Part 2

This post is Part 2 of the article I started yesterday about using your Avios points to fly long-haul with airberlin. Part 1 can be found here.  Part 3 tomorrow will focus on how to book partner airline award on ba.com.

Things to think about before booking airberlin ….

As we saw yesterday when looking at the Avios and taxes required for an airberlin Avios ticket, some routes are a good deal and some are a bad deal compared with flying directly on BA from London.  The stand-out deal is probably Berlin to Abu Dhabi, which is just 50,000 Avios plus £48 taxes in Business Class, return.

Here are the key points to consider before you book on airberlin:

Avios and cash needed:  Some destinations, such as Abu Dhabi from Berlin, require fewer Avios than using BA for London – Abu Dhabi because it is a shorter flight and this puts it in a cheaper Avios pricing zone. Most airberlin routes need the same number of Avios as BA, eg 80,000 in business class to New York. Los Angeles, as an example, actually needs more Avios than BA.  All routes offer lower taxes, however.

Transit costs:  You obviously need to fly to Germany to start your trip, which adds to the cost. For a destination such as New York, this will mean you end up using more Avios than the equivalent BA flight (since getting to Berlin would be 9,000 Avios return) or spending cash on a connecting flight.

2-4-1:  You cannot use an American Express 2-4-1 voucher on airberlin redemptions. If you have one of these vouchers, it will almost certainly be a better deal to stick with a BA flight.

APD:  If you fly BA or airberlin from the UK to Germany to connect, and have both flights on the same ticket, you will be liable for long-haul business class Air Passenger Duty.  This is £134 or £166 or £188 per person for business class, depending on destination.  This wipes out a lot of the saving over flying directly on BA to your destination.

Re-routing:  However, if you travel to Germany on a separate ticket to avoid APD and are delayed, airberlin has no liability to you and can refuse to re-route you. You may need to build in an overnight stay in Germany to avoid any risk of misconnecting, which again adds to the cost.

Seat:  The airberlin business class seat is nowhere near as comfortable as the BA fully-flat Club World, especially for overnight flights. They also do not have lounges which are equivalent to those at Heathrow.

However, airberlin will soon be replacing the seats on its Abu Dhabi flights with those used by its partner Etihad.  These are fully lie-flat and would represent a real improvement.

At the end of the day, you need to consider the trade-off between the Avios needed, the taxes required, the extra cost and time required to take a connecting flight, the risk of misconnecting and the comfort of the airberlin business class seat. Oh, and seat availability of course!

And if you want to travel to Cuba, Curacao, Fort Myers, the Dominican Republic or Mombasa then it is a non-issue, because BA doesn’t fly to these places anyway!

Part 3 of this article tomorrow will focus on how to search for and book partner reward availability on ba.com.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (March 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to 120,000 points. You receive 80,000 points when you spend £12,000 within three months and a further 40,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 60,000 points. You receive 40,000 points when you spend £6,000 within three months and a further 20,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 120,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Up to 60,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.